Examines Fourth Amendment legal issues involved in drug testing of public employees. Discusses several recent court cases involving probable cause and reasonable suspicion to determine appropriate standards for individual situations. Outlines implications for public employers. Blanket drug testing is not permissable, though job applicants have…

Discusses two recent court cases highlighting the legal pitfalls facing mandatory drug testing programs for teachers and students. In both cases, the courts contended that blanket testing policies violated Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure. Testing of individual teachers and students (under reasonable suspicion) may…

Outlines the confusion surrounding a Supreme Court decision in the "New Jersey vs. TLO" case, which put at issue the prohibition against unreasonable searches in schools. The Court's decision allows a lower standard of reasonableness to be applied in school searches. The standards are not clear and are open to serious question. (MD)

Provides an edited version of the Supreme Court opinions in "TLO v New Jersey." Includes an article delineating the new rules on student searches that have resulted from the court decision. A third article discusses questionable areas the Court decision left unclear. (MD)